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Facilitating structural transitions in DNA

2000; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 97; Issue: 22 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.97.22.11685

1091-6490

Michael J. Waring,

Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology

At one time, the structure of DNA was blissfully simple. It was elegant, regular, and universal—quite unlike the structures of proteins, which were complicated, highly varied, and full of peculiarities consistent with their multifarious functions. DNA was a plectonemic double helix of 10 nucleotide pairs per turn (a nice round number) containing planar base pairs stacked neatly perpendicular to the helix axis and, of course, capable of accommodating any conceivable sequence of nucleotides within its regular structure so that it could encapsulate any kind of biologically meaningful sequence information within its consummate regularity (1). This simple and unifying concept was so compelling, and the imaginative representations printed in textbooks or devised for the media were so visually attractive, that the “ideal” B-form helix dominated the thinking of molecular biologists in the early years and has probably done more than any other single icon to attract brilliant students to venture into biology.